Paper Altars

Our westernized understanding of “calling” is just so… it just misses the mark. “Oh, so-and-so is called! The Spirit is on them!” “Yeah I was called to preach as a teenager, and I ran from it for years!” This is how “calling” is typically referred to in church atmospheres.

Calling, as the term is usually used, is one part mystical and unknowable, but also one part only-applies-to-those-working-in-a-church. It is simultaneously over-emphasized and yet so limited in scope. So much of my Christian youth was consumed with questions of “Am I called? How do I know? What does it mean? What should I do if I feel called? Am I supposed to work in a church since I feel called? What do I do with this special calling?”

It was exhausting and based on my works and talents and deeds.

So, what is “calling,” then?

When Jesus calls you, it is by His grace alone that He does so. It is not by your abilities or your holiness. Anyone who truly follows Christ is called.

The first call is, quite simply, to come to Him. “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Mathew 11:28) It might be a slow, gentle wooing of your soul by His patient and persistent goodness, like the woman at the well; or it might be a powerful, all-at-once revealing of His glorious nature, like Paul on the road to Damascus; or, maybe, a little bit of both, like the disciples who walked with Him daily before the crucifixion, and then saw Him appear suddenly in the upper room very much alive!

Come. Accept the knock at the door. Drink from the fountain that has living water. Know His voice when He calls. Taste and see that He is good. Find safety in the good shepherd. Step into a grace and a freedom your soul has never known before. Come alive.

Now the real work begins.

There is a second call after the first. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mathew 16:24) Take up the cross and follow Jesus. Follow Him into the burden. Suffer with Him. Die with Him, and in that death, you will find resurrection life. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that He who calls you also has the power to keep you and sustain you and redeem you for all eternity.

Sometimes, I think we’ve made being a follower of Christ too easy. We all like the first call to come; we often fail to do the second and carry the cross. I think we forget that salvation costs. It costs greatly. It cost a Holy God to take on human flesh, to live a blameless life, and to die an excruciating death He did not deserve – so that we could take on righteousness we could never hope to earn.

I think we forget that he calls us to put off our old self, to be renewed, and to clothe ourselves in righteousness. To put away falsehood – to stop living and operating out of lies. To respond to His call, “Come and leave your life of sin.”

To break that phone screen that’s fueling your secret addiction.

To distance yourself from friends walking in darkness.

To flee from your relationship dripping with immorality.

To kill the pride that puffs you up.

To resist the rebellion deep in your human bones.

To stop excusing your laziness when it comes to spiritual and physical health.

To burn your idols at the stake.

To fight the desperate temptation to return to your Egypt, your bondage, your sin that entangles you.

The Call is heavy and hard, but oh so worth everything it may cost.

The treasures of heaven outweigh the pleasures of this world. The call to bear the weight of the cross is a better burden to bear than any false freedom this life offers.

And yet, it’s hard to always believe this truth. That’s why we need the gospel every day. That’s why we should want to meet each day steeped in prayer – in time spent in the presence of He who is our inheritance, our portion, our savior, our hope, our Lord and King, Jesus Christ.

Come, carry your cross, and find new life in Him.

That is the call.